‘Russia needs to stop’: Marles says Australia will stand by Ukraine | swrighteconomy
Defence Minister Richard Marles has warned the war between Ukraine and Russia shows increasing signs of being a protracted one that will require Australia to provide long-term support to Ukrainians. The deputy prime minister said on Sunday the recent efforts by Ukraine to secure the Oskil River in the country’s east suggested the war was going to go on for longer than expected, and that would require more commitments from countries such as Australia.
Credit:“I think what that says to us is that we need to prepare ourselves for this to turn into a protracted conflict,” he told Sky News.“We need to see this as having all the potential for it to be a protracted conflict and our objective here has to be enabling Ukraine to ultimately end this conflict on its own terms, for it to be the author of the resolution of the conflict.” Marles said countries across Europe including Germany, France and Britain also believed there were more signs the war in Ukraine would continue on. “All of those countries are really steeling themselves for this being an effort which needs to be undertaken over a long period of time,” he said. This week, Russian leader Vladimir Putin announced a partial military mobilisation involving 300,000 people and floated the idea of deploying nuclear weapons. Social media images out of Russia have revealed people trying to leave the country to avoid being called-up to serve with the nation’s defence forces.Marles, while criticising Putin’s comments, said the reaction in Russia showed the depth of concern among the country’s residents. “They are appalling comments to make. I mean, it is clearly an appalling thing to do to place that potential on the table,” he said. “Certainly the comments that we’ve seen from Vladimir Putin in the last few days which speak to the behaviour of Russia cannot be allowed to stand.“I think the scenes that we’ve seen from Russia over the last few days, of people seeking to leave the country, of obvious distress for those being called up and be asked to serve in the Russian forces, in respect of this says everything about where public opinion’s actually at within Russia.” Marles also pushed back at claims by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton that red tape within the Defence department was slowing down the deployment of Australian military resources to Ukraine.“It’s not being held up by red tape, and certainly there’s no complaint coming from Ukraine in respect of any of that,” he said.
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